differences in the structure of motivation for participation in sport ...

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Original article

Joško Sindik1 Gordana Furjan Mandić2 Bernd Schiefler3 Miran Kondrič 4

Kinesiologia Slovenica, 19, 1, 14–31 (2013), ISSN 1318-2269

DIFFERENCES IN THE STRUCTURE OF MOTIVATION FOR PARTICIPATION IN SPORT ACTIVITIES AMONG SPORT STUDENTS IN THREE COUNTRIES RAZLIKE V STRUKTURI MOTIVOV UDELEŽENCEV ŠPORTNIH AKTIVNOSTI ŠTUDENTOV ŠPORTA V TREH DRŽAVAH

ABSTRACT

IZVLEČEK

The aims of this study were to compare the latent structure of the types of sports students’ motives, separately for students from three countries. We also considered gender differences in motivation for all dimensions among those sports students. Using a sample of 390 sports students from Slovenia (Ljubljana), Croatia (Zagreb) and Germany (Cologne), we studied what motivates students for sports activity. The students completed the PMQ (Gill et al., 1983), a 30-item list of possible reasons students have to participate in sport. We found that the latent structure of the types of sports students’ motives varied from three (Cologne) to six (Ljubljana) dimensions. However, it was only in two dimensions that we also found significant gender differences in motivation to participate in sport activities for all sports students from the three different countries: Relaxation and meeting friends (higher results for female students from Zagreb) and Excitement (higher results for male students from Ljubljana).

Namen pričujoče študije je bila primerjava latentne strukture motivov za ukvarjanje s športom pri študentih športnih fakultet za vsako izmed držav posebej. Upoštevali smo tudi razliko po spolu v motivaciji za vse dimenzije študentov. Na vzorcu 390 študentov iz Slovenije (Ljubljana), Hrvaške (Zagreb) in Nemčije (Köln) smo ugotavljali, kaj študente motivira za športno aktivnost. Študentje so izpolnili vprašalnik PMQ (Gill idr., 1983), ki zajema seznam 30-ih možnih razlogov, zakaj bi se študentje naj ukvarjali s športom. Ugotovili smo, da se latentna struktura tipov motivacije pri študentih na športnih fakultetah razlikuje v treh (Köln) do šestih (Ljubljana) dimenzijah. Toda samo v dveh dimenzijah smo ugotovili tudi značilne razlike po spolu glede na motivacijo za ukvarjanje s športom pri študentih iz vseh treh različnih držav: sprostitev in druženje s prijatelji (višji rezultati za študentke v Zagrebu) in navdušenje (višji rezultati pri študentih v Ljubljani).

Key words: motive, cross-cultural, sport, student

Ključne besede: motivi, medkulturnost, šport, študenti

Institute for Anthropological Research Zagreb, Croatia

1 2

University of Zagreb, Faculty of Kinesiology, Croatia

3

German Sports School, Cologne, Germany

4

University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Sport, Slovenia

Corresponding author: Miran Kondrič University of Ljubljana Faculty of Sport Gortanova 22, 1000 Ljubljana Tel. +386 1 520 77 00, +386 1 520 77 37 E-mail: [email protected] http://www.fakultetazasport.si; www.miran-tt.com

Kinesiologia Slovenica, 19, 1, 14–31 (2013)

Differences in motivation structure

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INTRODUCTION The reasons given for participating and dropping out of sport have received extensive attention over the past few years in terms of both recreation and as a competitive sport. From the social point of view, we can say that humans do not act in isolation as their behaviour is often strongly influenced by their associations with other people. By evaluating students on the basis of their own personal gains in sport, we can give everyone an opportunity to succeed. In fact, since less motivated students have the most room for improvement this procedure can even assist the very students who are usually at a disadvantage. Drawing on excellent reviews of the literature (Gould & Petlichkoff, 1988; Weiss & Petlickhoff, 1989; Scanlan, Carpenter, Schmidt, Simons, & Keeler, 1993; Yan & McCullagh, 2004; Tsorbatzoudis, Alexandris, Zahariadis, & Grouios, 2006; Zaharidis, Tsorbatzoudis, & Alexandris, 2006; Smith, Ullrich-French, Walker II, & Hurley, 2006), there are many different types of reasons sportspeople give for participating and dropping out (Whitehead, 1986). Weiss and Petlickhoff (1989), for example, categorised the biggest motives for participation into competence (e.g. to learn and improve skills), affiliation (e.g. to make friends, be part of a team), fitness (e.g. to be physically active, get in shape), and fun. The Canada Fitness Survey (1983) provides an insight into the motivations of Canadian youth to participate in physical activity and the results showed the main reasons for being active were fun, feeling better, weight control, flexibility and challenge. Some past research indicates that people have different achievement goals with regard to sports participation (Duda, 1987; Whitehead, 1986; Whitehead, 1990) and it is reasonable to suggest that their attainment is a constituent of enjoyment. Among the many reasons given for a decreased interest in and subsequent withdrawal from sport were: a lack of fun, issues with the coach, the time commitment, an absence of the required amount of playing time, an overemphasis on winning, and greater interest in other activities (Weiss & Ferrer-Caja, 2002). In terms of environmental influences, Yan and Thomas (1995) identified several culture-related characteristics (American and Chinese) in youth’s physical activity patterns as well as cultural influences on gender differences in physical activity. An analysis of member states that joined the EU before 2004 as opposed to those joining later reveals a clear distinction when it comes to people’s appraisal of their local sports facilities (www.europa.eu). The research by Škorić and Hodak (2011) in Croatia showed that the level of sport development (measured by the number of registered participants) depends on the country’s level of economic development. In relation to university sport, the experience of sport appears to be attractive to students for the following types of reasons: fun, enjoyment, improving skills, learning, being with friends, success, winning and health (e.g. Bandura, 1986; Deci & Ryan, 1985; Weiner, 1985). In an attempt to solve one of the problems of assessing achievement motivation, sport psychologists developed specific assessment instruments adapted to sport activity and different sport situations (Gill, Dzewaltowski, & Deeter, 1988; McAuley, Dunkan, & Tammen, 1989; Gill, 2000; Spray, John Wang,

Biddle, Chatzisarantis, & Warburton, 2006; Mallett, Kawabata, Newcombe, Otero-Forero, & Jackson, 2007; Lonsdale, Hodge, & Rose, 2008). Motivation greatly influences an individual’s performance

in situations where one is physically capable of performing the task but is uncertain about his/ her abilities, which in many cases is a problem that sees people not beginning with a chosen sports activity. In general terms, motivation refers to the intensity and direction of behaviour. Ultimately, it always essentially means whether or not someone expects they will be successful when attempting a particular skill. In fact, the positive relationship between motivation, selfconfidence and success is one of the most consistent findings in research about being involved in sports activities. But, like with any other activity of an individual, the motivation must come

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from within – intrinsic motivation – to be effective and meaningful for someone (Tušak, 1997). Motivation is all-important for success in sport – in both recreational and competitive sport. Studies around the world have shown that young people are not as physically active as they need and should be to enjoy the health benefits of physical activity (Duda, 1992; Goudas & Hassandra, 2006; Fang, 2007; Irkhin & Mikhaylova, 2007; Standage & Gillison, 2007; Lutz, Karoly, & Okun, 2008). It is clear that more developmental research is called for to understand variations in reasons for participating in and withdrawing from sport and physical activity. It can be assumed that sport, like basketball, soccer or table tennis, are identical across the world. The rules, playing field, number of players, objectives and skills required are always the same. However, different research studies across the world show some cultural differences in the psychological meaning of sport in different cultures (Guest, 2007). They were similar with regard to the relative educational and class status, but varied most clearly in their cultural context. Sport students’ motivation is influenced by various factors. If culture is one of those factors, then understanding the dynamics of the culture is important for those who are preparing educational plans and strategies might thus differ across cultural contexts. The difference in the cultural approach to sports motivation can be found in research from Guest (2007): “One theme which emerged was around the reason the players spend so much time on sport. Competition was the most frequent identified motivation for the US players, talking about pride and positive identity through internal satisfaction of accomplishment. The US players saw sport as a ‘competitive proving ground’. On the other hand no Malawian players talked about competition, but identified status as motivating, and a chance to demonstrate their worth through exhibition – they saw playing sport as a ‘demonstrating ground’. On the sport field these players could exhibit abilities regardless of competitive success”. Although ever more researchers around the world have become interested in cross-cultural studies, there have been relatively few studies in the context of sport (Kriska, 2000). Some findings of previous studies support results indicating that cultural effect is an important factor in explaining a certain pattern of people’s behaviour. Accordingly, differences among three countries may influence the motives of table tennis course participants. From a historical perspective, Slovenia and Croatia have a different background to Germany regarding physical activity. Cultural influences of all three countries include beliefs, customs, values and generational status. Concerning Slovenia and Croatia, we may expect that the motives for individual sport might differ than in Germany. Although Croatia and Slovenia have developed under the impact of many different cultures – Greek, Roman, Celtic, Illyrian, Austrian, Hungarian, Byzantine, Islamic – those influences have left their own unique imprint on the history of both lands. In contrast, during late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the biggest influences on Germany came from the Slavic peoples, medieval Greeks and the Byzantine Empire; a long period of domination by the Ottoman Empire; the Hungarians; and several other neighbouring peoples. Modern Roman culture emerged and developed with many other influences as well, partially that of Central and Western Europe. Cross-cultural communication is a key aspect of international relations and that is why we are looking for a closer analysis of this also in the context of sport. The present study attempted to examine the possibility of differences in the motivation of sport students in three different countries in relation to the motivation structure to participate in sport activities. The aims of this study were: (1) to establish and compare the latent structure of the types of the sports students’ motivations, separately for each sample of students in each country;



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and (2) to identify any gender differences in the sports students’ motivations, separately for each sample of students in each country (following a specific factor structure). It was intended that the results would serve as a basis for further in-depth studies. However, we may expect a different factor structure in motivation to participate in sport activities among sport students compared with other samples of subjects in different cultures. It was hypothesised that the motivation to participate in sport activities in the three different countries could differ. We also hypothesised gender differences in the sport motivation of all students from the three countries.

METHODS Participants The subjects in our research were 135 students from the Faculty of Sport in Ljubljana (age 22.4 years [SD=2.10]), 138 from the Faculty of Kinesiology in Zagreb (age 21.86 years [SD=1.81]), and 117 from the German Sports School in Cologne (age 22.03 years [SD=2.01]) (Table 1). At the time the questionnaires were distributed these students had received basic lessons in table tennis. At all three institutions participants could choose one of the racquet sports in the sixth semester of their studies. The students were attending a table tennis course in the 6th semester of their course and respondents’ average age was 22.10 years [SD=1.81]. Table 1: Gender details of the subjects. Faculty of Sport, Ljubljana N %

Faculty of Kinesiology, Zagreb N %

German Sports School, Cologne N %

MALE

70

51.9

114

82.6

78

66.7

FEMALE

65

48.1

24

17.4

39

33.3

135

100.0

138

100.0

117

100.0

ALL

Legend: N – number of participants

Instruments For this study we employed the Participation Motivation Questionnaire (PMQ; Gill, Gross & Huddleston, 1983) which has been widely used in several studies of motives to participate in youth sports and translated by an official translator in each country. The students completed the PMQ (Gill et al., 1983), namely a 30-item list of possible reasons students have to participate in sport. A five-point Likert scale was used. Respondents answered the stem “I participate in sport because ...”, indicating their preferences from 1 (“not at all important”) to 5 (“extremely important”). Results of a factor analysis of the PMQ revealed the factors of achievement/status, team atmosphere, fitness, energy release, skill development, friendship and fun as basic motives for involvement (Gill et al., 1983). It is also expected that gender discrepancies in motivation to participate in sports will be greater between cultures than within cultures. Procedures In this study, 390 questionnaires were distributed among students of the Faculty of Sport in Ljubljana, the Faculty of Kinesiology in Zagreb and the German Sports School in Cologne.

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According to the instructions provided, all 390 students returned the questionnaires – 262 males (59.1%) and 128 (28.9%) females (more detailed information is presented in Table 1). Data analysis The data were processed with the IBM SPSS Statistics (19.0) software. The basic descriptive parameters were calculated (mean, standard deviation, frequencies). Univariate ANOVA was used to test for differences among the students at all three institutions for each questionnaire item. We then performed a factor analysis (hereinafter “factor analysis”; in fact it was the Principal Components method with a Varimax rotation) for the examined subjects, separately for each city (country): for Ljubljana the first, for Zagreb the second and for Cologne the third. Overall results for each dimension (components revealed in three separate factor analyses) were defined as simple linear combinations of the assessments of the items that define each dimension. By using a t-test for independent samples, we sought to gain an insight into gender differences (separately for each city) among students of the different institutions in the motivational structure of participating in a physical activity (sport).

RESULTS The results discussed in this research largely demonstrate different trends regarding the subjects’ participation in sport generally, not just table tennis (Table 2). Table 2: Comparison among students of all three institutions for items of the Participation Motivation Questionnaire. Items

I want to improve my skills I want to be with my friends I like to win I want to get rid of energy I like to travel I want to stay in shape I like the excitement I like the teamwork My parents or close friends want me to play I want to learn new skills I like to meet new friends I like to do something I’m good at I want to release tension I like the rewards I like to get exercise I like to have something to do

Ljubljana

Zagreb

Cologne

X

SD

X

SD

X

4.25 3.71 3.57 4.24 3.82 4.60 3.90 3.34 1.67 4.22 3.82 4.41 4.02 2.99 4.16 4.06

.76 .93 1.16 .87 1.10 .57 .84 .99 .90 .76 .90 .77 .95 1.25 .95 .98

4.52 4.30 4.43 4.35 4.08 4.72 4.52 4.14 3.05 4.17 4.35 4.70 4.11 4.12 4.57 4.33

.69 .90 .70 .68 1.05 .52 .62 .84 1.25 .97 .82 .51 .91 1.10 .70 .75

3.56 3.96 3.74 3.91 3.16 4.13 3.66 3.10 2.38 3.96 3.72 3.95 3.28 2.72 4.31 4.32

SD

F - sign.

.97 P